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Cow tongue oyster. In the 1970's

Posted on 12/5/25 at 7:56 pm
Posted by Trevaylin
south texas
Member since Feb 2019
9620 posts
Posted on 12/5/25 at 7:56 pm
Dad had a camp south Dulac , and following a cold front the water would go out, and we would go oyster picking in a bayou to small for the oyster boats. The oysters shells were about 12 inches long and dad would describe the opened mollusk as a cow tongue because it was so long and beefy. Made great oyster poboys. I would lay in the front of a pirogue with a leather glove, and my brother would push us along , picking up the oysters and flipping them in the boat. Dad would be at the big boat shucking to lighten the big boat load. 6 sacks in 2 hours was easy.

we also had a lab retriever that loved raw oysters and would be there in our back yard to slurp .
Posted by Capt ST
High Plains
Member since Aug 2011
13484 posts
Posted on 12/5/25 at 8:45 pm to
Had duck lease off bay junop for years, one of my favorite things to do was walk along bank and fill 5 gal bucket full of oysters. We’d sit in blind with a bottle of Tabasco and eat them until sun went down or we got a limit.
Posted by Ol boy
Member since Oct 2018
3966 posts
Posted on 12/6/25 at 5:19 am to
Grew up hunting Venice and we would “coon” a few oysters every hunt off of old pilings and pipelines around bay coqile and yuritich bend. Pawpaw called them “poboy” oysters you only needed one for a poboy!!
Posted by 257WBY
Member since Feb 2014
7196 posts
Posted on 12/6/25 at 5:35 am to
Yep. Dad always called that cooning for oysters.
Posted by Trevaylin
south texas
Member since Feb 2019
9620 posts
Posted on 12/6/25 at 7:36 am to
cooning not a racist term but built on the fact that at low tide you would see numerous raccoons looking for eats on the exposed shells.
Posted by Ol boy
Member since Oct 2018
3966 posts
Posted on 12/6/25 at 7:51 am to
And for anyone who thinks their job sucks or having bad day at work just know their is some ol boys cooning oysters in empire even on days like today. Knee deep water in wetsuits!!
Posted by KemoSabe65
70605
Member since Mar 2018
6325 posts
Posted on 12/6/25 at 8:28 am to
Since dredging has been banned in big lake that’s how they collect them now.
Posted by GREENHEAD22
Member since Nov 2009
20532 posts
Posted on 12/6/25 at 8:47 am to
So these aren't normal oysters? A larger variety?
Posted by Ol boy
Member since Oct 2018
3966 posts
Posted on 12/6/25 at 8:59 am to
quote:

A larger variety?

Same oyster just able to grow longer since they are in areas not fished commercially.
Posted by gumbo2176
Member since May 2018
19340 posts
Posted on 12/6/25 at 12:48 pm to
My clan referred to them as "shoe sole" oysters since they were as big as a man's shoe sole.

I was around 7 yrs. old when I ate my first "shoe sole" oyster and I thought my mom was going to throw up watching me eat that thing--------she could not put a raw oyster in her mouth, but was OK with them cooked most any way imaginable.

She kept gagging and dad and I were laughing at her.
Posted by El Segundo Guy
1-866-DHS-2-ICE
Member since Aug 2014
11369 posts
Posted on 12/6/25 at 12:59 pm to
I don't know shite about oysters, but my family was big on cow tongue. Poor farmers in the Midwest.

When I was a kid in the early 80s, I would help my grandpa and his brothers butcher hogs and cattle. My grandpa's favorite treat was to take a fresh cow tongue, skin the outer membrane off and boil it for a long time until tender. Then he'd put salt on it and tear it up.
Posted by highcotton2
Alabama
Member since Feb 2010
10339 posts
Posted on 12/6/25 at 3:29 pm to
quote:

My clan referred to them as "shoe sole" oysters since they were as big as a man's shoe sole.


Posted by Mung
Ba’on Rooj
Member since Aug 2007
9148 posts
Posted on 12/6/25 at 5:48 pm to
Dad and I fished in Pointe au Chien in the 80s. We had a spot where Bayou Jean Lacroix crossed a pipeline cancel, that was full of oysters. I had the brilliant idea to bring an oyster knife, and shucked and ate a couple dozen. Next day I shite everywhere. A bit to the south we’re a bunch of camps w sewerage pipes going straight into the water. Doh!
Posted by CHEDBALLZ
South Central LA
Member since Dec 2009
23080 posts
Posted on 12/7/25 at 9:02 am to
We went to my dads buddy, Mr Dupres camp In Cocodrie. They had a bed of wild oysters in between their dock and the land. I was to small but the older men would use tongs to get a couple dozen to cook in a spaghetti or a jambalaya. They called them wine oysters, they had a reddish tint to them and they were longer than normal oysters. The shells were pretty thin and the were kinds hard to open but they were delicious.
Posted by choupiquesushi
yaton rouge
Member since Jun 2006
33740 posts
Posted on 12/7/25 at 11:35 am to
Did it a lot as a kid off bay adams and port sulphur. But in 80s good friends of mine showed up at dock with some and green jeans ticketed them for harvesting from a closed area or an area they didn't have permission.
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